Getting to Know the New Energetic Full-Time Educator at Adventure Judaism
Getting to Know the New Energetic Full-Time Educator at Adventure Judaism
Rabbi Jamie KorngoldJune 26, 2019NewsComments Offon Getting to Know the New Energetic Full-Time Educator at Adventure Judaism
Welcome to Amber Carey-Gitter, the new full-time Educator at the Adventure Judaism Congregation. Amber, an American-Israeli, moved to Boulder from Chicago to accept the position.
Amber is excited to work under the leadership of Rabbi Jamie Korngold. She believes learning should be fun and cares deeply about her students’ experiences. Her enthusiasm for Jewish learning brings an extra spark to every learning experience. In addition to teaching in Adventure Rabbi Kids (ARK), an alternative religious school, Amber tutors students in Hebrew, teaches Individual Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah students, and offers lessons in basic conversational Hebrew. She teaches students on-line, and in-person at the office or the students’ homes.
In September 2019, Amber will offer an energetic musical movement class for preschool through kindergarten-age children.
In Chicago, Amber was a Judaic instructor at Oak Park Temple, which is known as one the largest reform synagogues in the Chicagoland area. She was also children’s theatre instructor at the Theatre of Western Springs and Beyond the Stars Performing Arts Academy, and a former political science adjunct instructor at Aurora University. Amber received a BS in economics and business administration from DePaul University in Chicago, and an MA in political science & political communication from Tel-Aviv University in Israel.
A poignant full-moon moment for the Adventure B’nai Mitzvah Class
As part of their Bat Mitzvah or Bar Mitzvah ceremony, graduates of Adventure Judaism’s Adventure B’nai Mitzvah class are asked to write a Dvar Shana, thoughts about the year. To write the speech, the students look back at the journal they were required to keep. They make an entry after each of the class’s 15 expeditions. At the end of their journey, we ask them to read through the entries and reflect on what they learned about themselves, Judaism, and community and put it in a speech called D’var Shana. Eliza Serlen became a Bat Mitzvah on June 15, 2019 and this is her D’var Shana.
D’var Shana – Thoughts About the Year
by Eliza Serlen
This year has been interesting in the best possible sense of the word. From slipping around on the ice and mud during our snowshoe hike to setting marshmallows on fire (or, alternatively, trying to avoid getting your marshmallow lit aflame) with wooden sticks, it’s all been hilarious and magical.
With my class, I also shared more serious, intimate experiences like enjoying the full moon on a quiet, snow-covered trail, and treasured moments with my friends and family.
Everything this year was fantastic, but one of my favorite classes I experienced during my time in the Adventure Class was called Iron Chef Shabbat. Imagine putting twenty kids in a room, with basic recipes for matzah ball soup and challah, and letting them go wild with a fun variety of ingredients like potato chips and chocolate milk. It’s just as fun as it is messy!
My team didn’t win, but we had tons of fun anyway. And, personally, I think our food was pretty delicious! We added chocolate chips and cinnamon to our challah, and shaped it into tiny loaves — one for each member of the group. In regards to the matzah balls, we may have added a bit too much garlic powder to ours, but they turned out fairly well regardless!
Another class this year was a three-day Passover retreat to Moab, Utah. The night we got to Moab, the Adventure Class set out on a full moon hike to Corona Arch, mostly without flashlights. While climbing a ladder up a steep ledge, and using a rope to get up a cliffside slope in the dark were both terrifying for me, if I’m being honest, it was all worth it. Looking up, it felt like you could see forever — every single star in the sky was within your view.
The services we did for Passover weren’t just sitting at a table and listening — instead, we got to hike! And when we weren’t hiking or doing organized activities, we were hanging out by the river, falling into the river, skipping rocks, making mud babies, freaking out over various card games, or just sitting and talking about anything and everything, hanging around and having fun.
The entire experience of the Adventure Class taught me a few lessons about responsibility, acceptance, charity, and crucial life skills to succeed throughout my life — these important values brought me this far and developed my character, and I will need these values in becoming a Bat Mitzvah.
Above all though, this class teaches concepts of kindness, one of the most important qualities in anyone’s life. Acts of kindness can simply be giving smiles to those people around you, to both people that you’ve known for a long time and to strangers you may never see again.
From small actions like holding the door for a person passing through it, to larger ones like spending an hour or two picking up garbage from a local park, every little act of kindness is important.
The Adventure Class, regardless of what the particular lesson’s focus is, always finds a way to incorporate kindness. It could be anything from making sure people aren’t forced to hike behind our large group by pulling to the side a minute to let them pass, to spending a class actually doing community service, to simply ensuring that we leave behind nothing but footprints upon completing a hike.
This has been an incredible experience topped off by the incredible day with all of you. Thank you so much, everyone, for being here to celebrate my bat mitzvah with me today!
“You Shall Teach Them Digitally to Your Children.” – (Deut. 6:7 Adapted)
“You Shall Teach Them Digitally to Your Children.” – (Deut. 6:7 Adapted)
Rabbi Jamie KorngoldJuly 16, 2019Jewish LifeComments Offon “You Shall Teach Them Digitally to Your Children.” – (Deut. 6:7 Adapted)
“We have to change our lifestyle,” said the busy San Francisco mom on a phone call to Adventure Rabbi Jamie Korngold. “Between soccer, swimming, theater, and Hebrew lessons, we are in the car a zillion hours a day. I can’t even remember the last time we sat down for dinner together. I heard you help families like mine. Help!”
This is a typical call to “Adventure Judaism Headquarters,” as their small office in South Boulder is fondly called by its staff of three rabbis and three educators.
People turn to online learning for many different reasons including saving time, ease of scheduling, and access to skilled teachers. With 19 years of experience teaching Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah students online, the Adventure Judaism teachers are the experts.
“When we pioneered online education in 2001, we had a student in Bangkok – Max Wolfe- with a teacher in LA, – Bradley Cohen – and the connection on Skype was so sketchy that Brad couldn’t always tell if Max was pronouncing the “s” Hebrew letters correctly.” Korngold also reminisces about a student in Colorado Springs with whom she lost the connection every time it rained.
The technology that enables online education has come a long way since 2001. Today the team at Adventure Judaism uses GoToMeeting, Facetime, and Skype to prepare Bar and Bat Mitzvah students all over the world, without technological incident.
“My kids are so used to screens,” says Miriam from Atlanta GA “that they ease into their lessons and connect easily with the teacher. My kids actually look forward to their Hebrew lessons with Amber!”
And indeed, the students do appear to be loving their Bar Mitzvah lessons. “What surprised me the most,” says Rhonda from Boulder CO, “was the laughter. I peek in during lessons and they go like this – Hebrew, laughter, Hebrew, laughter. Who knew religious school could be this much fun?”
Beach Bar Mitzvah follows months of online Hebrew lessons
Adventure Judaism has no plans to offer online ceremonies. Rather, one of the rabbis packs up his or her guitar, the Torah, and prayer books and meets the family wherever the family chooses. This summer found Rabbi Korngold in France, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California and Boulder; Rabbi Goldsmith in British Columbia, Canada; and Rabbi Yakar in Winter Park, Colorado and Lake Tahoe, California. Clearly, wherever your (or your child’s) dream Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah ceremony is, these adventurous rabbis will meet you there.
The Jewish community at large offers welcome and mazel tov, as well as blessings for health and happiness, to Dan McGrady, who completed the process of conversion to Judaism this Shabbat.
Dan McGrady has been practicing Judaism for over 14 years, which is when he met his wife Rochelle Schwartz. What finally prompted him to convert? “Well,” says McGrady, “my then 11-year old said, ‘So are you really going to convert Dad?’ I realized I absolutely wanted to be called to the Torah for an aliyah when he became a Bar Mitzvah, so I got serious.”
Getting serious meant taking Haver’s conversion course, Ikar, and studying privately with Rabbi Lynne Goldsmith, one of the rabbis at Adventure Judaism. “Although we have always celebrated Shabbat, we upped our practice,” says McGrady. Rabbi Lynne chimes in, “And Dan read and read and read. He is an ardent reader who thinks deeply and always poses fascinating questions for us to explore.”
Finally, McGrady sat before a Beit Din – Rabbi Deborah Bronstein, Rabbi Lynne Goldsmith, and Rabbi Jamie Korngold. “His answers were so profound,” said Korngold. “We couldn’t wait to welcome him to the tribe!”
D’var Shana – Thoughts About My Year in the Online Bar Mitzvah Program
Rabbi Jamie KorngoldJuly 28, 2019LifecycleComments Offon D’var Shana – Thoughts About My Year in the Online Bar Mitzvah Program
Wolfe and Harper studied online with the Adventure Judaism distance learning program and then met Rabbi Jamie Korngold in Carmel by the Sea for their joint Beach B’nai Mitzvah. This is a speech Wolfe gave at his ceremony.
After studying online, students meet their rabbi on the beach for their dream B’nai Mitzvah.
Driving home from school on Tuesdays, we usually only had five minutes to spare until my FaceTime Hebrew class began with my Adventure Judaism teacher Elaine. Running into the house....
Can any of you remember your first Bar/Bat Mitzvah or confirmation class? Many of you here, today, might not remember all the details. Did you even remember how you prepared for a Bar/Bat Mitzvah or a confirmation ceremony? For me, I remember my entire Bat-Mitzvah preparations at Adventure Judaism. It consisted of me meeting with two of my close friends for an hour a week where we had amazing Hebrew classes, which also consisted of learning ancient Hebrew prayers.
But it also included hiking trips! One hiking trip, in particular, was trekking to the top of a 10,000-foot peak in the rain, sun, and even brutal hail. This was my very first Adventure Class where we experienced trekking through various seasons all on the same day, and this was also part of my Bat-Mitzvah training. The purpose of my Adventure B’nai Mitzvah Class was to spiritually connect with nature through Judaism, and learn about myself as well.
Adventure Bar Mitzvah Class beneath Corona Arch
When I think about my overall experience in the Adventure B’nai Mitzvah Class, I realize, now, my experiences had their ‘ups and downs’; for example, in one particular a
Maddie Wittenberg recently became a Bat Mitzvah with Adventure Judaism. In this essay, she reflects on her Shabbat Project.
One of my Bat-Mitzvah requirements with Adventure Judaism’s Adventure B’nai Mitzvah Class was to try out four different Shabbat practices so that I could learn about myself and the importance of establishing Jewish traditions in my life. One practice that I liked very much was reconnecting with my grandparents on every Erev Shabbat, which is every Friday, by calling or texting. Another Shabbat custom that I liked was baking homemade Challah and creating a Shabbat dinner for my family.
Annika Aumentado became a Bat Mitzvah on July 13, 2019 with the Adventure B’nai Mitzvah Class. In this essay, called a D’var Shana, she shares her reflections on her year filled with challenge and growth.
Throughout my time in the Adventure Class this year, I learned a lot about responsibility through making sure that I was being safe, the people around me were being safe, and that we were all prepared for whatever class we were attending. I also learned about working together because our class became a tight community through all the hikes, activities, and the group discussions we had during the hikes.
For the last 18 years, Boulder has been the proud home and launching place for the Adventure Rabbi. What started as a one-woman show seems to have grown and lately, we’ve been noticing a new name in the community, Adventure Judaism. A new program? An impostor? Expansion?
BJN “sat down” with Rabbi Jamie Korngold, the Adventure Rabbi, to get the inside scoop.
BJN: What’s the scoop? Is someone nudging in on your adventure turf?
Rabbi Jamie: No, far less scandalous than that. Listen, 18 years ago, when I started this crazy thing, it was just me and my hiking boots out on the trail, collecting Jewish people who felt more spiritual outside than inside. Over the last 18 years, I’ve worked with thousands and thousands of people. We added programs, we added staff, we moved into a building, and before I knew it, Adventure Rabbi wasn’t me working solo anymore.
BJN: So what’s in the name?
Rabbi Jamie: Well, with three Rabbis and three Educators on the team and a Board of ten people, we realized it was time to broaden the name to reflect the broader organization. We’re all anticipating that this organization continues past my term, not that I am leaving anytime soon, don’t panic! Becoming Adventure Judaism reflects that longer vision, the larger team, and a broader reach.
BJN: But you are the core! So many associate you with the Adventure movement!
Rabbi Jamie: Well thanks, I did create it and that is very affirming. And you are correct that it used to be that anyone who came to us entered through the programs I run. But today there are plenty of people who engage primarily with our Educator, Elaine Barenblat or with Rabbi Lynne Goldsmith, one of our rabbis, who specializes in conversion studies and weddings. These participants may not even know me personally but know the program, our approach and commitment to Jewish identity and practice through adventure and the wilderness.
